TGIF: A Book Blogger is Born

graphic courtesy of GReads

TGIF at GReads is a feature for recapping the week’s posts (which I’m skipping this time because you can see them if you scroll down and I trust that you’re smart enough to handle that on your own) and answering a book-blogging question posed by Ginger.

This week the question is: A Book Blogger is Born: What made you decide to start your very own book blog?

This story is pretty simple.  I’d discovered a nostalgia-snark book blog, Are You There Youth? It’s Me, Nikki (which is sadly now pretty quiet), years ago, I believe through one of those Children of the 90s sites.  At some point in December or January, I actually clicked through from Google Reader to Nikki’s site and began checking out some of the blogs on her blogroll.  That is where I discovered book blogs and I was hooked.  I read the backlog of posts (in one case, THREE YEARS WORTH of posts) on a couple of blogs and at some point I decided I wanted to try it out.

You see, I’ve always been a reader.  I’d tried blogging in a couple other genres (humor/personal and crafts) with very little success or even perseverance (I don’t think I passed a couple of weeks or a handful of posts on either of those blogs) , but book blogging made sense.  I was already reading, why not talk about it?  The added bonuses would be actually keeping track of what I read, which I hoped would improve how and what I read.  Also, I hoped to connect with other readers (as I have never really had reader friends in real life) and perhaps make some new friends.  I also wanted to read more critically and while writing has never been my calling, I like doing it and I missed doing purposeful writing like I did in grad school.  So I decided to give book blogging an honest, concerted effort and to see where it would take me.

So far, I am pretty happy with my blog.  I have some loyal readers and I get many meaningful comments.  It still shocks me sometimes that people actually read what I post and it makes me so happy that I get to share books with others.  I am also reading a lot more widely and reading a lot more.  I spend a lot more time thinking about what I read and am hopefully a more critical thinker/reader/writer as a result.  The last few months have been a lot of fun and I look forward to continuing this blog as long as it continues to be fun!

What about you?  What got you started in blogging?

TGIF: Supporting Characters

graphic courtesy of GReads

TGIF at GReads is a feature for recapping the week’s posts (which I’m skipping this time because you can see them if you scroll down and I trust that you’re smart enough to handle that on your own) and answering a book-blogging question posed by Ginger.

This week the question is: Supporting Characters: We tend to gush over those main characters the most, but what about those supporting roles? Who are some of your favorites?

Supporting characters are awesome because they are more like real-life people… you know, you only get a little glimpse into their lives and problems, so they are actually interesting and fun and you want to be friends with them…  I just mean that sometimes you get to know the main characters a little too well or they endure too many struggles for a real friendship to be possible.  I like the think of the supporting characters as the sort of people I want to get to know better.

Some of my favorite supporting characters include Hassan from An Abundance of Katherines, Tiny Cooper from Will Grayson, Will Grayson, Helen Burns from Jane Eyre, and Marilla Cuthbert from Anne of Green Gables.

• Hassan is known for being funny and asthmatic, as well as for loving Judge Judy.  He is also very good at keeping Collin in line socially.
• Tiny Cooper is large.  He is also larger than life.  He is the one who helps both Will Graysons overcome their insecurities.  He also writes a ridiculous musical.  What’s not to love?
• Helen Burns… oh, dear sweet Helen Burns.  Helen is the first person to love Jane and the first person whom Jane loves.  Seriously, that is hugely important for Jane’s development as a character and also, how can you NOT love Helen Burns?  She’s an angel.
• Marilla cracks me up.  She initially comes off as a crotchety old woman, but she is actually quite funny and loving.  There is so much more to her than just being Anne’s guardian and I love that we actually get a glimpse of that in these books.  Montgomery was really a genius with creating memorable characters!

Who are some of your favorite supporting characters?